Second Chances
by xPaige Turnerx
Summary: AU. 'So, wings are good. Fangs are bad. "Great, we've got two Fangs running free around the city while our two Wings are unconscious and hooked up to the machine still."'


**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**Rated: T.**

**Author: Paige Turner.**

**Summary: AU. 'So, wings are good. Fangs are bad. "Great, we've got two Fangs running free around the city while our two Wings are unconscious and hooked up to the machine still."'**

A smile. The only real smile he had directed at him since before the incident.

Why, though? Why him? He knew it was for him, he even looked up into the chocolate brown eyes of the one who owned the smile. She was looking at him. The smile, the real smile, was for him. Friendly, maybe a tad sympathetic. Wait; yes, definitely sympathetic. He could feel the emotions rolling off the girl in waves, all directed towards him. Sympathy, caution, and...recognition.

He regarded the girl curiously. She was small, on the short side, but not tiny. Long, flowing mahogany hair. Pale skin. Warm, brown eyes. And an uneven lipped smile. Genuine. Not to mention the taser gun in it's holster on her hip, or the real gun on her other hip. Her belt was actually well equipped with the weapons, ammo, and the baton.

Cell Guard.

Again, the thought came to him; why smile?

It wasn't like he was another Cell guard, or even a visitor, janitor, or anything else.

He was a convict. Bearing the orange prison jumpsuit. The hand cuffs with the chain attached to the ankle cuffs. A _guilty_ convict.

"Why?" He murmured as he passed her, his voice rough from under use within the last couple of week, his southern accent barely audible.

Understanding and immense sympathy washed over him, crashing into him in clouds from her and her close proximity.

"You look like you could use it." Her surprisingly soft voice replied back, just as quiet. Surprising because all the other Cell Guards he had come across were loud, and barked out orders, not sentences. All the others had one hand on their baton, their faces masks of fury and anger, of disgust. They spoke and looked at the inmates as if they were scum. This girl was different. She spoke _to_ the inmates, not at them. She looked at them like she would anyone she saw on the street in the city.

In the city...

It would be a long while before he got to see the city again.

And it would be different. He would be different. He would see the city as Jasper Whitlock, the convict.

Ironic that before this, he saw it as Jasper Whitlock, a Major in the army.

Such a change. And in such short time. But that's how things are, how people are; they change at the drop of a hat. Sometimes because they want to, other times because they have to...

_Jasper couldn't understand what was going on. One minute he was looking at his fiance, Maria, smiling at him with a full out grin. Her dark hair that looked black most of the time, other than in the sun when it looked brown, slowly getting drenched in the rain as they made their way back to his car in the deserted parking lot. The next, he was watching as the men darted out of the van parked a few slots down, running up behind her, a few grabbing her while the others launched themselves at him._

_Perhaps it was shock that this was actually happening, or maybe it was Jasper himself just faulting up; either way, he ended up on the ground. Rain pouring down in his face from the star filled night sky as he attempted to hold his sides, blocking the kicks that were shot at him from all directions. But he only had two arms, and together, he was sure he could count six legs hitting him. He could already feel his left eye getting swollen, his lip was busted up, and one of his ribs had cracked._

_It all reminded Jasper of when he was younger and had gone backpacking through Europe and ended up in a small little town in a rain forrest. Long story short, he had run into an animal, to this day he still couldn't remember what it was, and had come home with his neck and chest covered in scars. His arms and face had gotten some damage, but not that noticeable other than the two scars running from his right eyebrow down across his cheek, over his lips, and to his neck._

_These men were just as vicious as the animal._

_And when Jasper heard Maria's strangled cry, something snapped._

He_ was just like the animal...No, worse._

_Jasper jumped to his feet and attacked, only where the animal had stopped once there was no longer a threat, Jasper kept going._

Another inmate shoved Jasper with his shoulder, jerking him forward and away from the brunette girl. He followed the others in the same orange jumpsuits down the hall...

_The night was quiet. Still. There was no more shouting or screaming. There was Jasper, kneeling over Maria's body, covered in blood. His fists up to his elbows drenched in red, his chest splattered with blood, his boots. Jasper's usual blonde and gold curly/wavy locks stuck to his forehead as the rain poured down on him, but no matter how much crimson liquid it washed away, there was always more._

_Jasper stared at the dark bruises around Maria's neck with a numb sort of feeling. He reached a hand out, not even noticing it's shaking, and touched her hair. It looked more black than brown right then._

_A red streak was left in her hair after Jasper's hand passed over it and he clenched his jaw. Jasper sat back on his feet, looking beside him at the still bodies of the men that did this, wishing that they were still alive so he could kill them again. _

_And that's how he was found. A couple came from the same club that Jasper and Maria had, laughing and stumbling towards their car in the parking lot. The man was the first to spot the younger man sitting on the ground surrounded by bodies. His wife was the one to alert others though, with her silence shattering scream as she gazed upon all the blood._

"Whitlock, you're bunking with McCarthy." A gruff voice said and Jasper looked up. There was another Cell Guard standing in front of an open cell. He too, was young, like the girl and Jasper himself. He had rust coloured skin, with long black hair, and dark eyes. He wasn't smiling, but his eyes were a little warm as he looked at Jasper. "Stay out of trouble and we'll get along fine. Got it?" The boy, though young, was intimidating in his own way. He was tall, so very tall, Jasper had to look up. He was muscled too, a little more than Jasper himself, and Jasper was fairly big.

Jasper nodded and turned to the open cell. If he thought the Guard was muscular, than his Cell Mate was freakishly big. He was a mountain of a man and Jasper knew immediately that if they were to get in a fight, there was only a very slim chance he would win. The guy lounging on the top bunk was the definition of Brute Strength. Along with his tree trunks for arms, the guy was as tall as the Guard, if not taller, he had black hair that was mostly straight with only a few curls, though it was cut quite short. He had bright green eyes that shone with mirth as he took in Jasper, and a hint of a five o'clock shadow on his face.

Jasper turned his back to the man, holding up his hands for the Guard to unlock the cuffs. He did so, quickly, and ordered Jasper to step back to close the door.

It closed with a clank of finality and Jasper closed his eyes, taking a deep breath through his nose.

"It's not that bad, mate." A deep, booming voice sounded from behind him. "Not like it's the end of the world."

Jasper's blue eyes opened and he turned walking over to the bottom bunk and sitting down. The mattress was damp, like everything in the prison, but rather hard. "For me, it is."

There was shifting on he bunk above him, and Jasper momentarily feared the thing would cave trying to support the giant laying above him. "Ah, another Life Time sentencee."

Jasper raised an eyebrow at the made up word, but didn't speak about it. "Five." One for each of the lives he took that night.

The man above him guffawed. "What on earth did you do, bud?" He asked.

Jasper lay back on the uncomfortable bed, his head engulfed by the pillow as it sunk to the mattress as well. He took a second deep breath before tossing the useless pillow to the ground and settled for using his arms behind his head instead.

"I can take a hint, pal. You don't want to talk about it. Just know that you aren't alone. Two life sentences here." The man said. There was a silence after that and Jasper closed his eyes, intent on getting just a few hours of sleep. But the silence was short lived. "You know, you're a quiet guy, bud. My last Cell Mate sure was a talker; the guy didn't know when to shut up. That mouth of his got him into tons of trouble, ended up being the death of him."

Jasper felt he should say something, but all he could manage was a curious, "Oh?"

"Poor bloke got stabbed in the jugular." The man above him boomed out a laugh. Again there was a silence, but Jasper knew better than to think this guy was done talking. "Listen, mate. You've got to give me something to work with. I get bored easily, and it takes it's toll on my sanity. So for me, would you just say something. I've been cooped up in here for days, gettin' on the warden's nerves with my jokes."

Jasper sighed, turning to face the wall. He counted to four when he heard another, deeper breathy sigh and the bed above him shifted. After another fifteen seconds, it shifted again, and he could hear fiddling. For some reason, Jasper wasn't all that surprised at the child tendencies the giant had, and it made him smile a small smile. "Jasper Whitlock."

The fiddling stopped. "Nice to meet ya, Jasper, buddy. Name's Emmett; Emmett McCarthy. Let's see; twenty one, no girl waiting for me on the outside, big family, two older brothers, three younger sisters, and four English Mastiffs." Emmett commented, ticking things off on his fingers as he stared at the cracked cement ceiling above him.

Jasper frowned. He couldn't fathom why Emmett would be telling him, a complete stranger he just met -here of all places-, all this personal family information. "I could be a serial killer for all you know. Why are you telling me this?" He voiced his thoughts.

Emmett shrugged his shoulders, his grin widening. "Well, I figure in five life sentences, you will have forgotten about all that info and won't bother my family when you get out." Jasper could feel a hint of a smirk forming at the corner of his mouth. It felt odd, forgotten. He hadn't really smile, smirked, or anything for that matter since the night in the parking lot. "Plus, I _am_ the baby brother and son of all the men in the family."

Jasper's eyes widened. If Emmett was the baby, and he was implying what Jasper thought he was, than Emmett was also the smallest of the males. There were three other men in that family that were bigger than the giant laying above him. Plus four English Mastiffs. Yeah, that family would be just fine.

Emmett continued on to fill the silence that had over taken the cell. "Also, ol' Emmett here isn't as slow as he looks. I've been here a couple years now; I know when and when not to talk, and who and who not to talk to." He finished.

Jasper heaved a sigh. He could tell Emmett wouldn't give up, he could also tell that the guy was lonely. That was pretty clear. "Jasper Whitlock. Twenty. No family; my dad and brother died in the army. My mom didn't take the loss well and ended up in the hospital. She died shortly after. No girl." He said quietly.

Emmett squirmed, feeling the uncomfortable air around the sentence. Jasper's voice had cracked slightly, so slightly he nearly missed it, but he did hear it when he said no girl. So Emmett changed the subject...somewhat he was still curious about the guy who would be sharing his cell for the rest of both their lives. "You were in the army, eh?"

Jasper nodded but realized Emmett couldn't see him. "Yeah. I was a Major." He replied.

Emmett's grin was back in place, the dimples making him look years younger. "Think you could take me?"

Jasper full out smiled, laying back on his back and reached up to pat the side of the top bunk. "I don't think anyone could take ya, Em."

**XxXxX **

"Ouch. What the hell happened to you, bud?" Emmett asked, stretching in the middle of the cell, his hands nearly reaching the ceiling.

Jasper groaned, rubbing his eye. He hadn't gotten a wink of sleep last night. And yes, eye, as in singular. The other, Emmett was staring at, and the dark purple circle under it. At least it wasn't swollen anymore.

Now that it was light out, and you could see better, Jasper really got a look at Emmett. He was right when he said that the guy was a giant; you could see the short sleeves of the orange jumpsuit starting to rip from his biceps. You could see abs through it too. "Do you take something?" Jasper asked, sitting up and gesturing to Emmett.

Emmett grinned, shaking his head. "Nah, all natural, pal. Just spent a lot of time working out, and working in general."

"Construction worker?" Jasper asked.

"Not quite. Worked on railroads. Now stop changing the subject. What happened to you?" Emmett said, crossing his tree trunks over his chest.

Jasper sighed, running his hands through his hair, tugging on it to wake himself up. He stood, coming only to Emmett's shoulder, and only about half his size, muscle wise. "The scars are from an animal when I was younger, and the rest is the reason why I'm here." He said, ending that conversation with his tone.

Emmett shrugged, lightly punching Jasper in the shoulder. "Well, anyway, it's breakfast time and I'm starving. Let's get us some porridge."

Jasper raised an eyebrow. "Porridge?"

Emmett grimaced. "Yeah. Meal time is when I really start to miss ma." He joked, standing up by the bars to the cell door. "Open the door; we're hungry in here! What kind of joint you running here, Laurent? This isn't customer satisfaction." He shouted, causing more shouting to be heard in the hall from above them.

One by one, Jasper heard cell doors opening and more people shouting. A few Cell Guards passed by, their hands on their batons. Jasper approached Emmett and followed him out into the hall, and they joined one of the few lines that were all headed to the same end of the hall.

They eventually made it to the mess hall, where there were Cell Guards posted in all the corners of the very large room, while a few paced throughout the room. Jasper sat down beside Emmett at one of the rare empty tables, trying to ignore the holes being burned into his back by a few of the other inmates who already took notice of the 'fresh meat' as they put it.

Emmett had dug right in, mumbling a few jokes here and there as Jasper looked around the room. It was pretty plain, grey, no windows, nothing other than the tables and chairs, the buffet where they served the food, and the few doors around the room. Very plain. Jasper sighed and looked down into the bowl of his porridge, picking up his spoon.

Emmett looked up. "You said the Cowboys won, right?"

It was one of the few things the two had talked about the previous night. Jasper nodded. "Yes."

Emmett slammed his hand down on the table, causing a few people to jump and turn. "That boy owes me money then. I'll be back after I go collect." He said, grinning his dimpled grin at Jasper before stomping off to the other side of the room. Jasper had a feeling it wasn't intentional, and the guy just naturally made a lot of noise.

Not two seconds later, someone was already trying to start something. "Hey, Scarface."

Jasper clenched his jaw and looked up slightly to see two guys in orange jumpsuits standing on the other side of his table. He looked further up and saw their faces.

One was tall, shorter than Jasper himself though, with long, dirty blonde hair, tied back with a hair tie. He had a lot of stubble on his face, and his eyes looked black. He had a tattoo of a snake along one of his arms, and a cocky smile on his face.

The other was shorter, but had more muscle. He had sleeve tattoos, was a skin head, and had a bunch of piercings.

Jasper looked back down at the table. He really wasn't in the mood.

But the man with the long hair wouldn't take that. "Too good for us, huh?" He tossed his tray down on the table to get Jasper's attention. When that didn't work, he flipped it, slopping it on Jasper's lap and cackled. "Look at me, blondie." He barked.

Jasper looked up, his fists tightening at the smirk on the guy's face. "What?" He said calmly.

"You think you're better than us?" He demanded.

Jasper didn't understand. What did he do? He was just sitting here.

Jasper hadn't answered fast enough and the guy grabbed the front of Jasper's jumpsuit, pulling him to his feet. What happened next was a reflex. It really was. Jasper knew not to retaliate, that they'd get bored, and he didn't need the drama. But it was reflex, and he couldn't stop it. His fist and knuckles connected the with man's face, making him stumble back from the force. Jasper was no Emmett, but you _really_ didn't want to get in a fight with him. He was fast and efficient, knowing where to hit to do the most damage.

The guy shook his head, clearing the dizziness, and swallowed the rusty taste in his mouth. He raised his fists and stepped towards Jasper.

Jasper blinked and saw the men from the parking lot surrounding him. Rain pouring down on the fight as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

The brunette Cell Guard from before ran over with the tall boy. The boy grabbed a hold of the man, struggling with him until he got the blonde's arms behind his back. "Enough, James." He ordered as James struggled in his grasp.

The brunette placed her hands on Jasper's chest, pushing him back as he stared at James with hard eyes. "Jasper! Stop. You don't want to do this." She said, just loud enough for him to hear.

He blinked a few times and looked down at the girl. His shoulder sagged and she sighed in relief. "Sorry." He apologized as the tall boy started dragging the still struggling James away.

"You gonna be okay, Bella?" He asked.

Bella nodded and turned back to Jasper as Emmett walked over. "Damn, missed all the fun again. Ah, Bells, I see you've met my man, Jasper here." He said and looked at the mess on Jasper. "Um, dude, I know the food sucks, but..." He trailed off.

Jasper sighed. "You have horrible timing."

Bella smirked and shook her head. "Let me go see if I can pull some strings and get you into the showers tonight." She said, turning to leave.

"Thank you." Jasper said quietly.

Bella nodded and left. "Bella's cool, you'll like her. I wouldn't piss her off though, she's tiny, but she knows how to handle herself."

"I'll keep that in mind." Jasper commented, sitting back down at the table with Emmett.

This was going to be a long five life times.

**XxXxXx**

**So? Tell me what you think of the first chapter. Don't worry, the rest of the Cullens are in the next chapter, along with more action and stuff actually happening. This was just setting it up.**

**Review please! ^^**

**-Paige**


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